Agree completely that film lovers will tend to seek out older films to see a director's early work, or the work that inspired a filmmaker they admire. However, it is disappointing to me that many older films are more difficult to see these days.
For example: when I was growing up and there were lots of video stores (VHS) you would go in and see all of the movies, and some of the covers, the descriptions, would intrigue me and I'd rent movies based on that. Not based on what was popular, but what my own curiosity led me to.
Now, I think a lot of people simply scroll through Netflix or Hulu, and watch whatever is available. So, how would someone become aware of Goodfellas? It's not on either of those streaming services. I don't rent from iTunes, but it seems that everything on the main page is what's new, so you would have to know what older movie you were looking for to search for it.
My friends and I found that movie by chance in a video store because the cover was interesting...the body lying on the street, Deniro, Liotta, and Pesci hovering in the dark above it. Finding that movie led to a lifelong love of Scorsese films. I went back to the video store and asked the guy there what else Scorsese had directed, which introduced me to Kundun, Age of Innocence, After Hours, King of Comedy etc.
I just wonder how a younger generation would become aware of films like this, and have access to them.
